Pompoms, Pooches, Procrastination AND PLAY

I’ve been busy collecting and making in the studio, doing what I first thought was procrastinating with pompoms and vintage ceramic pooches. I called them Procrastination Pooches because, surely instead of making them I needed to be working on that big project or emailing that person or researching that thing.

After some thought, whilst making pompoms, I realised that this wasn’t me procrastinating - this was me carrying out daily play in my studio, something I have tried hard to continue incorporating in my art practice since 2016.

As adults, play seems frivolous, a waste of time, and a bit silly. I’ve had to reframe this in my art as not frivolous and a waste of time but essential for creative flow. Not silly but a way of getting to the crux of what’s important to me and my art.

If you follow my work, you’ll see that I unabashedly include ‘non-traditional’ materials in my art: pompoms, glitter, children’s toys (some of which I handmake out of clay), domestic objects from around the home and even some humour. I also incorporate techniques not traditionally used in the fine art world: crochet, sewing, and embroidery.

I’m not someone who relishes breaking rules (most of the time), so using these materials and techniques has nothing to do with that. I just don’t understand why some things in art are seen as elevated and others sit lower. Who came up with these rules and in 2025, why are they still relevant? I wonder if the answer lies in a traditional undervaluing of materials that are readily available and accessible to most? I also wonder if the answer can be found in the brilliant artwork by artist, Kendall Ross: a knitted vest with the text: “it’s just craft until a man says it’s art”.

Anyway off I go to make and play…